In Too Deep
by BrieZee
Summary: He came to them with a problem, she was the answer, only to cause more problems than what she was worth. RaexOCxAqualad
1. Chapter 1

* * *

**Chp. 1 An Unexpected Expectation

* * *

**

He broke the surface easily without anything more than a ripple. His destination a mere few yards away. The Titan Tower. The home of the original titans and his ticket out of this mess he was currently in.

Ducking back under the water he swam the remaining yards before walking onto shore.

"Please, please let them say yes." He prayed to himself before taking a deep breath and ringing the doorbell.

"Whose there?" he heard Cyborg's voice ask as a camera zoomed in on his face.

"Hi Cy," he answered as he smiled up at the camera.

"Uh-oh. What do you want?"

"What?" Aqualad asked as his smile faded to be replaced by nervousness.

"You're smiling too big. What do you want?"

"I'm only here to visit. What makes you…?"

"Just stop and come in. Whatever you want will come up sooner or later." Cyborg said as the door opened to allow Aqualad entrance.

* * *

"So how have you been?" Aqualad asked pleasantly.

"Fine." Cyborg answered bluntly as he Robin, and Beastboy stared the aquatic lad down. "What do you want?"

"How have the girls been?" Aqualad continued, ignoring the question.

"Fine." Beastboy answered this time, "what do you want?"

"Read any good books lately?"

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" all three yelled.

"Fine!" Aqualad yelled back in frustration. "Fine. I try to be pleasant but you have to…"

"What do you…?"

"…Want? I got it. Fine. Okay, listen. I have a bit of a problem. I need someone to substitute as my personnel guard, until my parents leave. You see it's like this: in order for my parents to let me live by myself, I have to be capable of keeping my part of the sea peaceful and hold up traditions. One of the traditions happens to be that the ruler must have two appointed guards to uphold the kingdom while I'm away. And it just so happens, that one of my guards eloped with a human a few months back and I haven't replaced them yet. I really should have just gone and got that over with from the start, but no, I had to procrastinate and now my parents are coming to visit, and I don't have enough time to find somebody, and so…here I am."

"Dude? Why didn't you just say so sooner? I'll be your body guard. I'll be like: '_Keep away or you will be terminated_." Beastboy exclaimed, imitating Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"It has to be a girl." Aqualad told him, dashing his dream.

"Why?"

"Because one has to be male and the other female. And, _SHE_ ran off to Vegas. That's why I'm here; I was hoping Starfire could help me out. You know, just until my parents." Aqualad pleaded with a hopeful look, while Robin tried to hide his smile of happiness.

"I'm sorry Aqualad, but…Starfire went home to help her sick uncle slash nanny."

"Oh." He said disappointedly, and then with out any enthusiasm, he asked about Raven.

"Sure, if you don't mind getting you head bitten off." Beastboy blurted out before Cyborg could slap a hand over his mouth.

"Why didn't you ask Bee?"

"Well…"

**Flashback**

"So what do you say?" Aqualad asked with puppy dog eyes, as he looked at Bee hopefully.

Bee and Speedy exchanged glances. "…aha…ha….ha…ha…ha…" and it just went on. Speedy and Bee were crying and rolling all over the floor with laughter.

Mas y Menos, who had come in later, were laughing just to be laughing. Neither had a clue about what was going on though.

And so had all four been laughing when he left.

**End flashback**

"She's busy."

"And you don't know any other girls?" Cyborg insisted as he released Beastboy.

"No.Why? Don't you want Raven to help me?"

"No."

"Oh." Aqualad muttered, stunned at Cyborg's bluntness.

"Don't worry dude. Ever since he, _unofficially,_ adopted Raven as his little sister, he's been overdoing the big brother act." Beastboy told him reassuringly.

"Come on, I need her help, otherwise I'll have to go back there, female guardian-_less_ and my parents will send me back **_home_** where they'll make me do that **_thing_** again…and I hate the _thing_, and if I have to do the _thing..._**_again heads will roll_**!"

"Whoa! Calm down." Robin called out urgently, "I'll go ask Raven for you, and…if I don't come back in 15 minutes, she said no."

"And if she says no," Aqualad commented a little too eagerly for Cyborg's liking, "I can just wait till Starfire comes back. I'll just tell my parents that I was on titan business."

"Well then, we'll have to make sure she doesn't say no, won't we?" Robin muttered under his breath as he dashed up the stairs.

* * *

"What are you going to tell him?" Robin asked nervously as he told Raven Aqualad's dilemma.

"I'm going to tell him no." she told him as she made her way to the door.

"NO, Wait!" Robin yelled urgently as he went to block her way.

"That's cute." Raven said randomly with a small smile.

"What?" he asked completely caught off guard.

"That you actually think you're stopping me. That's cute."

"Raven, as your leader, I demand that you go and pose as Aqualad's bodyguard."

"Now you're making me angry." She warned him.

"No, ever since we defeated your father, things don't explode when you express, or feel emotions."

"Exactly. So if I kill you…it was intentionally."

"Umm…at least…hear me out before you do it." He told her quietly as he closed the door to the roof, which is where they were.

"Go ahead."

"Okay, if you do this…I'll…give you anything you want, just name it."

She considered him for a moment. "Fine, I want my room refurbished."

"You got it." He said without hesitation.

"I'm not finished."

"Oh."

"I want a black, Paul Bunyan bed, canopy style, a set of Egyptian cotton sheets, of every color. I want the border around my wall to be built in shelves, I want my bathroom bigger, with a Jacuzzi tub, I want a secret room installed behind my book shelf, and I want my closest bigger and…"

"Are you done? You are draining me dry."

"AND," she continued as if she hadn't heard him, "…and I want an easel, and a _full_ paint set."

"I don't know Raven; it's not really in the budget to be…"

"We afford a big screen TV every other week, every time you lose the remote, you get a new TV, we can afford the newest version of gaming devices every month, you bought a pool, and we're surround by water, Starfire has a diamond encrusted jar of mustard, and you're telling me this isn't in the budget."

"Fine, but the guys are going to be plenty upset when the gold plated shoes don't arrive."

"They'll get over it, now do we have a deal?" She asked holding her hand out.

"Yeah, I guess." He said, grudgingly as he grabbed her hand. "What was that?" he suddenly yelled as he felt an internal pulling, shoot throughout his body as he clasped her hand.

"We made a deal. If you don't do as we agreed…_you're mine_."

"Yours…what do you…mean?" he asked uncertainly as she smiled wickedly and, for the first time in a while, he was truly reminded of her demon heritage.

"Don't do as I say, and you'll see."

* * *

"So how long is this for?" Cyborg asked as they all stood on the beach.

"I don't know, a week, a few days, a month…my parents aren't always predictable."

"What will she be doing? Just standing by your side, fighting monsters, what?"

"Just standing there, and what's with the interrogation? Are you ready yet, or not?" the last question was directed at Raven, who, was talking to a nervous Robin about something, but as he asked his question, she looked up at him with dull eyes.

"I've been waiting on you."

"Oh…so you've been…waiting on me…but you're just standing."

"Good observation."

"But what, about that scuba sub thing, don't you have to get that?"

"No, I'm going to swim."

"But…" and his eyes flickered upward as he tried to think of something.

"Dude, quit stalling! She's not coming! Damn!" Beastboy snapped, resulting in surprised eyes to turn his way.

"What?" he asked with a huff. "You were all thinking it. She won't be back for a week or two. Now go!"

"Oh. Well, I guess we can go now, then." He mumbled disheartened, without turning to face her.

"Don't get too excited. You might explode." She told him sarcastically, before mumbling a spell under her breath. Her body glowed with her powers for a second, before returning back to normal. "Now we can go." She said as she began unbuckling her cloak.

"Well, we'll see you guys in…OH MY GOD!" Aqualad, who had his back to Raven the whole time, turned around to find her standing with her cloak in her hand. Suddenly, being stuck with Raven didn't seem so bad.

Raven, for all she was worth, ignored or didn't hear him as she twirled her cloak like a matador until it disappeared into thin air.

"Hey!" Cyborg called out angrily, placing a hand on Aqualad's shoulder and forcefully turning his head away from Raven. "What are you doing?" he called to her, over Aqualad's struggling head.

"The cloak gets too heavy, when wet." She told him, as she began to stretch and get ready for her long swim.

"Stop that!" he demanded as he,not only had a harder time keeping Aqualad's eyes off her, but saw Robin and Beastboy were getting an eye full.

"Knew she was hot under that cloak." Beastboy said with a wolfish grin. Robin was smart enough to make himself less obvious and kept his mouth shut.

"Watch it!" Cyborg warned.

"I am." The changeling said imprudently, before he was backhanded by Cyborg, who, in order to hit him, had to release his hold on Aqualad.

"Are _you_ ready or not?" Raven asked with an annoyed gruffness to her voice as she stared down at Aqualad, who had fallen in his plight to get away from Cyborg.

"Uhhh…yeah let's go." He said in a rushed voiced as he hopped to his feet, grabbed Raven's hand, and took off running for the ocean, diving out of sight and pulling Raven along with him.

* * *

Raven let him drag her a few miles underwater before she got tired of all the fast movement. '_That's enough'_ she shouted at him with her mind before she blasted him off her arm with her powers.

"What's the problem?" he asked swimming back to her, but as he opened his mouth, only bubbles issued forth instead of the words.

_'You're going to fast._' She thought to him.

_'We've got to hurry, it's a long way's off._'

_'I am not a fish._' She thought to him, '_You can't talk to me this way.'_ At a nod from his head she continued. _'You swim, I'll follow._' Another nod and he took off.

Now that she wasn't being drug along, Raven took more time to appreciate her surroundings. When they had first started out, the water was light blue, almost clear, but the further they went down, the darker the water got. Also, like the water, the marine life also changed. The fish went from small, colorful, and beautiful, to large, mono colored, and unique. Once, a whale or at least she assumed it was a whale, she just knew it was really big, swam over their heads, the current it left behind sent them into a flurry of small whirlpools. It was singing as it went along, so it wasn't so bad.

It was nice, but once, or twice, or maybe a few times, she caught Aqualad staring at her. To say the least, she was annoyed. By the umpteenth time that he did this, she gathered her thoughts and was about to give him a piece of her mind, literally, when Atlantis came into view. It was breathtaking and it completely blew her mind. It was nestled deep down at the bottom of a trench, which gave off a natural light from, what she considered, moss that grew along its wall. The castle looked to be made from coral, but as they swam closer, she could tell that it looked smooth, instead of rough.

Turning towards Aqualad, she wiped the astonished look off her face as she saw his satisfied, smug, face looking at her expectantly. Turning back to the castle, she looked at it with indifference and shrugged.

Sighing to himself, Aqualad swam up to Raven and tapped her on the shoulder. When she faced him again, he motioned for her to follow him before swimming off.

He lead her to the back of the castle and then to an underground entryway. He was the first to emerge from the pool, the light, from inside, nearly blinding him as he hopped out onto the marble floor. He turned to help Raven, only to find her standing next to him and looking at him with a slightly envious look.

"What now?"

"Water just slides off you." She told him as she magicked **(if it's not a word, it is now.)** the water off her body. He had tried not to look at her uniform as it clung to her body, but now that she was dry, he could focus on more important things now.

"It's a perk." He said with a charming smile, that had had Raven swooning when they had first met, but now it hardly seemed to faze her.

"Obviously." She replied in her monotone as she folded her arms across her chest. "Don't you have to clue me in on exactly what I'll be doing?"

"I'll be doing that ma'am."

He was there so suddenly that Aqualad jumped back in fright. One minute he had talking to Raven, he blinked, and there was someone else there. Raven, who hadn't jumped, but was surprised, studied the newcomer with a casual eye. He was tall, as tall as or taller than Cyborg, with aqua-green skin, pointy ears, and a scar over his left eye. He was bald, with nothing but a fin atop his head, another, larger, on his bareback, one on each of his upper arms, and one each on his calves. He wore nothing but a pair of black trunks and he was well muscled, although his muscles were small and wiry. In other words, he was more muscled than Robin, Beastboy, and Aqualad, but not as much as Cyborg.

"How do you do that?" Aqualad demanded angrily, although the newcomer simply raised an eyebrow at him before looking pointedly at Raven.

"Oh, yeah. Prodigis, this is Raven, Raven this is Prodigis, my guard. Raven will be taking over as your counter until my parents leave."

"A pleasure." Prodigis said in an extremely masculine voice as he shook Raven's hand with his clawed, webbed ones.

"Likewise." She said with an enticing smile, one which he returned.

"Yes, and I…" Aqualad, who had saw this wordless communication, stepped in and loudly took Raven's hand from Prodigis's. "…was just about to brief Raven about everything and show her to her room.

"No you're not." Prodigis told him firmly, as he pulled Raven to his side. "While you've been gone everyone has gone insane. The cooks need your input about what to cook, the decorators don't know what and where to do their job, the maids and butlers don't know what your parents do and don't like, you have to decide where they will sleep, you have not done any paperwork for weeks, and you have to be measured for your robes, and your parents are coming tomorrow. While you do that, I, shall brief her in on what's to happen and show her to her room."

"But…" Aqualad began to argue.

"Off with you." Prodigis said sternly, before turning his back on him and ushered Raven down the hall.

* * *

"For a bodyguard, you sure do tell him what to do." Raven commented after a while of walking and talking.

"It's part of the job. As his bodyguard, my other job is as adviser…here we are." Prodigis had been telling her what was expected of her as he led the way to her room. So far, she had gotten everything he had said. "This is your room here. Next toit is his highness's, and next to his is mine. That way, if something were to happen we could be there in no time. Our rooms are all connected by a secret passage, leading from your fireplace, to his bookcase, and my bookcase, to his fireplace."

Nodding her head to show that she understood, she turned to him with a curious expression. "Your job is to be his personnel bodyguard and adviser; am I just a bodyguard or do I have two jobs also?"

Prodigis frowned. "He hasn't told you?"

"Told me what?"

Without replying, Prodigis smiled mischievously and leant in close to Raven. "I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise." He whispered into her ear as he opened her door.

"What surprise?" she asked suspiciously.

"I'm sure you've had a long day. Enjoy your rest." Smiling, he gestured for her to enter the room. Frowning she did as he said, but as she turned to question him again, she found him gone.

* * *

**BrieZee**: Look who started a new fic. Nothing else to say, so R&R. Oh and before I go, pt. 2 of **For the Love ofa Raven**, has been posted.


	2. Chapter 2

**IMPORTANT/FUTURE OF STORY:**

Lately, I have been thinking of **discontinuing** my **fics. **

I just haven't been in a writing mood lately. Every time I start, I get discouraged and sidetracked. I'm either using my time for my artwork, or I'm working on my original stories, and I find myself just wanting to stop fanficiton.

At first I was just planning of going on a hiatus, but the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of just stopping. But I will not be deleting my stories off the site or off my computer, for I may comeback one day. But until then...it was nice writing for you.

_Courtney_

* * *

**Chp. 2 Meet the Parents**

* * *

"You've got to be kidding." Raven said as she put on her uniform. It had been lying on the floor by her bed when she had woken the next day, and as if on cue, once she finished putting it on, Prodigis had walked in, with two spears in his arms. 

The uniform consisted of a black iron, breastplate, with silver, shoulder plates. She wore a pair of black, firm fitting trunks, with silver, iron plated flaps that ran down her thigh and ended a few inches above her knee. Her helmet was no more than a metal band around her head with metal fins on each side of her face and her feet were bare.

"Wow!" Prodigis said with a whistle. "You wake up early."

"Habit." She answered briefly. "Why aren't we better equipped? We're supposed to be his guards, but we aren't protected by anything."

"It's just for show." He answered her as he dumped the spears onto her bed. "But if we were to spring into action, we are to reflect the word _loricatus_ to the helmet and…oh that might be a problem for you."

"With telepathy right; like this?" she asked, and not bothering to wait for an answer as she thought the word '_loricatus'_. The next moment her body began to tingle as onyx black scales erupted onto her body.

"How do I look?" she asked as she moved around experimentally in her new scales.

He said nothing, but smiled broadly.

"Don't get fresh." She told him as she turned towards the mirror. She saw that she still wore the uniform, just now scales covered her body, including her face. The scales had completely covered her mouth and nose; the only things left in view were her eyes.

"You do look nice though." Prodigis offered as she turned around just in time to catch the spear he had thrown at her.

"Thanks." She said dryly at his comment, wondering how her voice came out so clearly whilst being muffled by the scales. "How do I get it off?"

"Why the hurry?"

"How do I get it off?" she glowered.

"Reflect _loricatus_ again." He answered quickly, giving her a smile. "Come on, as guards we have to escort his highness from the moment he wakes to the moment he falls asleep. He should be awakening now so we should be on the other side of his door the instant he opens it."

* * *

Aqualad had risen early. Today was the day. His parents were coming to check up on him and he would shock the hell out of them by showing them how responsible he was and how he kept his home in order. 

He would bathe and patrol the castle to make sure everyone knew what they were supposed to do. He would supervise the decorating; check the books and important documents. He would make sure that not a single thing was out of place, and he would do it before Prodigis could tell him what to do, and if he just so happened to impress Raven while he did it...well that was just a perk.

Putting on his royal attire, Aqualad threw open the door to his room and marched out, to be immediately flanked by both Raven and Prodigis.

"What took you?" Prodigis asked conversationally as they trooped down the hall, ignoring how Aqualad's shoulders sank in defeat.

"I'm going to get out one day without you. You know that don't you?"

"Sure you will." Prodigis responded, and it sounded like, to Raven's ears, he didn't even believe his own words.

Aqualad seemed to come up with this conclusion too, for he grunted in annoyance.

"I've taken the liberty of conducting a to-do list for you to accomplish before your parents arrive."

"I've already made a list, thank you." Aqualad snapped, as he swatted the offered list away.

"Be that as it may," Prodigis said sternly, as his webbed hand gripped Aqualad's shoulder tightly, halting the young prince in his steps. "I feel you will accomplish more with a written list, your Highness."

Raven stood there silently, and watched with an indignant expression as the two stared each other off. She guessed it was a normal occurrence with the two.

"I'm not afraid of you." Aqualad muttered as he snatched the list from Prodigis's outstretched hand.

"Why would you be? You have no reason to, your highness." Prodigis answered as he bowed his head respectfully, and with a huff of annoyance, Aqualad preceded down the hall.

And as he passed, Prodigis looked up at Raven with a smile and whispered: "Yes he is."

"Ew, Prodigis, you got your nasty mutant slime all over the list."

At Aqualad's comment, the smile dropped from his face only to be replaced by one of annoyance. And if she had less control over her emotions, Raven would have laughed, but she did, so she didn't.

* * *

Raven was in need of some much needed meditation, and she finally got her chance, after trudging behind the arguing couple for hours, when the two decided a bit of practice training was in order. 

They had jumped into one of the many pools around the castle that held rooms and other places that were submerged in water. This particular one lead to a training room, this she could tell by the many weapons that were shelved on the walls. She had opted to stay above and keep watch, and after only a little goading from the two, and a forceful no from her, they had agreed, and left her to the peace she craved.

That peace was short in coming. Whenever she had finally gotten into deep meditation, she was interrupted by servants, asking her if she was alright, where was the prince, why was she grey, if she needed anything, Oh we didn't know anyone was in here, the list went on and on. She was also interrupted by Aqualad and Prodigis, whose combating was loud and boisterous, and sometimes would send explosions of water through the pool to rain down on her. And lastly, the thing that just wouldn't allow her to meditate was her own mind.

'_Just what the hell am I going to be doing besides guarding?' _

The thought wouldn't leave her alone.

Along with wondering why she and Prodigis were the only ones in skintight trunks for armor. Whilst traveling around the castle with the two, Raven had spotted other guards standing around. _They_ had been fully armored. She had thought that the only guards around were her and Prodigis, but upon seeing the others she had gotten confused.

When she had voiced this to Aqualad, Prodigis had told her that they were guards of the castle, and while they too protected the prince, they protected the home while we protect the prince directly.

That still didn't answer her question about why they were so underdressed, why _she_ was so underdressed, Prodigis was alright, being a guy, but too much skin was showing for her liking, even if she could cover herself up with the scales, they were still a bit clingy.

Not that she was complaining completely, she did get a bit of a show with Prodigis. Even though he was some mysterious sea creature, he didn't look even a quarter bad in his trunks, and she found the sight of his muscled toned body cross her more than once, less than three, but more than once.

She inwardly smirked as she knew the feeling was mutual, she had caught him staring at her a few times when they were patrolling with Aqualad, and pride reared its identical head and teamed up her hormones to make her pull her shoulders back and give him a small, _meager_, enticing look. He responded with a few flexes and a suggestive smile.

This had continued for a while before Aqualad had rounded on them with a clenched jaw. Shortly after this, the two boys had retired to the practice grounds, which is how this train of thought had taken Raven for a ride.

"Your Highness!" a voice screeched loudly, breaking Raven's meditation once again.

Sighing silently she opened her eyes and stood up as she cast a blank stare onto the servant who had interrupted her.

It was a girl, a few years younger than Raven, with ratty white-blonde hair, pointed brown teeth, and webbed hands. Her skin was grey-green and looked clammy and wet; she wasn't an attractive child at all.

"Oh, my apologies Mistress." The girl mumbled in embarrassment as she bowed lowly. "But scouts have spotted a carriage approaching, we believe it is the Queen and King. Should I inform his Highness?" the girl asked with a blush.

"I'll do it." Raven offered, as she inclined her head towards the girl, an obvious dismissal which the girl recognized with apparent disappointment.

"Very well, Mistress." The girl replied as she slowly began to leave.

Not waiting for the girl to depart, Raven stepped over to the pool, and with a few quick recited words, had pulled both males out of the water and deposited them on the floor.

Hearing a gasp behind her, Raven had barely enough time to move before the girl servant was past her and helping Aqualad up, her blush bright and glowing across her face.

"What's going on?" Prodigis demanded with clear annoyance as he hoisted himself up off the floor.

"She…" Raven began as she nodded her head at Aqualad's admirer, "said that a carriage approaches and that everyone believes it's your parents." The last part was directed at Aqualad, who was oblivious to the love-struck pre-teen still attached to his arm.

"Are you sure? How far off are they? How long til they get here?" Aqualad asked with nervous excitement.

"Not sure, maybe you should ask your appendage there?"

"How _OH_!" Aqualad had gotten his first look at the messenger and jumped at how close she was and how she stared at him adoringly.

"Miranda! It's you!" He greeted anxiously.

"Yes my prince." She breathed out.

"How long Miranda?" Prodigis asked as he took control.

"Only a few moments away, sir." Miranda answered without taking her eyes off her prince.

"Then there's no time to lose." Aqualad declared as he shook the water off his body, along with Miranda's grasp, and quickly adorned his noble clothing once again.

By the time he was ready, Raven and Prodigis were suited once more and stood at attention with their spears perched by their sides.

"They'll arrive at the court room entranceway." Aqualad told them quickly before he took off at run down the hall with Prodigis on his tail, fatigue they would have felt from the training completely gone.

And with a glance at Miranda, Raven followed behind in their wake.

* * *

The castle was abuzz with excitement. The King and Queen were coming for a visit after so many years. The court room was quickly being filled with servants as everything was cleaned and arranged for the last time. The throne pillows were fluffed and turned over, with Aqualad's being the smallest and sat in between each of his parent's. 

The Red Carpet was rolled out, fresh flowers were arranged, the drapes were pulled back to let in some sea light, and the great windows, which also served as doors, were opened so Aqualad could greet his parents. This room, like many others, was dry, and remained so even after the doors were opened. The water remained where it was, a shimmering curtain of water that held the balcony in its grooves. Raven was impressed.

Stopping at the wall of water, Aqualad took a deep breath as the trumpeters trumped passed him and went to wait on the balcony.

"So what do you think that father of yours is going to do this time?" Prodigis asked as he took his position on one side of the door, and Raven the other.

"_My_ father? I'm won't take all the fame, I like to share. I have no idea what _your_ uncle will do?"

"You two are cousins?" Raven asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course," Prodigis answered her with a smile directed at his cousin. "All of the Imperial Guards are the family of the second branch. When Poseidon retired as King of the Oceans, he had two sons he could have chosen to be his successor. One brother was my great to the nth power grandfather, and the other was his. They had a contest between to see who would rule and who would protect."

"And your grandfather lost?" Raven guessed.

"Are you crazy?" Prodigis asked with a bark of laughter. "My grandfather won! Who wants to be king, I mean really? My grandfather loved the ocean and what better way to show that love than to protect it. Kings rule it, Imperial guards protect it. Why rule the thing you love when you can keep it safe. By protecting the Kings and Queens, we protect the seas. Besides, if anything was to happen to him I would then be King. That's why I make sure nothing happens to him. Everyone watches the King. If he does one thing un-kinglike, he's a disgrace. I don't need that. He can have it all."

"If you're done making me feel bad…" Aqualad interrupted with a playful grin, "I do believe I see your uncle's carriage." And without waiting to here a comeback, Aqualad wafted through to the other side, his hair floating around him like an oil spill.

"HE'S _YOUR_ FATHER!" Prodigis yelled back in vain, "His father's a bit eccentric. I don't claim him. Luckily his guard is my father, and he keeps him in line." By the look on his face when he spoke of his father, Raven got the impression that Prodigis thought highly of him.

Trumpets blowing brought them back to their senses and as they looked out, Aqualad glanced back at them, grinned broadly, and gave them two thumbs up, reminding Raven of why she had thought him so fetching the first time they had met.

Upon seeing him walk out farther she made a move to follow him but Prodigis's spear stopped her in her tracks. "We wait here." He informed her.

Nodding that she understood, she retreated back to her post by the door and stood to watch the reception.

The carriage came speeding from out of nowhere. The world's largest conch sell, being pulled by, of all things, eight massive black sharks. The person driving, beyond her understanding, managed to abruptly stop the carriage directly in front of the balcony.

She couldn't hear what was going on, but she could see it. Out from the carriage stepped three people. The first was obviously the Queen. A mermaid with long flowing green hair with a tail to match. She soon developed Aqualad into a hug and smothered him in motherly kisses.

Raven heard Prodigis snort with laughter.

The other two were men, the bigger one being the King, for he swooped Aqualad up into a bear hug and swung his body from side to side like a rag doll. The other man, stood off to the side, fully armored, way more than Prodigis and Raven, much to her annoyance.

"Here they come." Prodigis announced unnecessarily as he stood up straighter and stared straight ahead.

First through was Aqualad, looking embarrassed and disheveled. Straightening out his clothing he gave her a quick smile before he moved towards his throne. Next to come was the King, and though he seemed big from afar, up close Raven could see that the man was really mammoth.

He was a dark skinned man more than 7 feet tall and extremely burly, with inky black hair cut short atop his head with a thin, yet rugged, beard, and a wide smile. She watched as, like Aqualad and Prodigis, water simply rolled off him and his clothing, leaving them dry to bone. Upon entering the room, his eyes immediately fell on Prodigis, who vividly swallowed.

"Diggy!" The King yelled in a loud boisterous voice, as he fell upon his nephew and hugged him in the same fashion as Aqualad, who, Raven saw, smiled in satisfaction at his cousin's demise.

"Good to see you, boy!" he said as he set Prodigis down and patted him on the back, sending the strange boy flying to the floor.

"You too, Uncle!" Prodigis muttered as he tried not to wince at the pain in his back.

Raven tensed as the man turned to face her, but before he could crush her small body, for that's what she thought was coming; a feminine hand had pushed through the curtain of water and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Oh where are my manners." The King exclaimed loudly, making Raven realized that this man always spoke loud, even when embarrassed.

"Come now, my dear Semiramis, how could I forget you?" Reaching one of his gargantuan hands back out into the water he wrapped it around his wife's waist and pulled her through and into his arms, for her fins were incapable of walking.

Queen Semiramis was an extremely curvy woman, mer-woman, with sea green hair, blue tinged skin, and eyes like her son.

"Prodigis, my dear." Semiramis greeted as her husband swiveled around so she could see him. "So good to see you again, you've grown quite a lot since last we seen you."

"And you," this was directed at Raven as the Queen was turned to face her. "You'll have to excuse me for a while. Getting my dry land legs is quite a tiresome act, and I'll be out of it for a second." Smiling apologetically, Semiramis and her husband left to join Aqualad.

Last through came the King's imperial guard. Prodigis's father. She knew this because Prodigis was the spitting image of this older sea creature. He stepped through regally and took a quick survey of the room before addressing his son. It wasn't the greeting Raven had been expecting,

"Boy." Prodigis's father greeted gruffly.

"Old Man." Prodigis responded without looking at him.

"You're still as puny as ever."

"I could beat your old retched body with one finger, my eyes blinded, a fatal wound, and under a minute, even if you weren't only a few minutes away from death, you old miserable decaying fart."

Raven stared disbelievingly at the two as they stared angrily at each other.

"That's my boy," the old guard said proudly as he wrapped his son into a one armed hug and patted him on his bald head. "Oh, who's this?"

"This is Lady Raven." Prodigis answered with a devious smile. "Our new Lady Imperial Guard."

"New Guard? Why weren't we informed?"

"She just arrived yesterday."

"Yesterday. What do you mean yes…Oh no. He didn't?" suddenly a smile identical to his son's sprouted upon the old guard's face.

"He did!" Prodigis answered mischievously.

"Is she...?"

"She's here to be just a guard." Prodigis interrupted. "That's all he told her."

"So she doesn't know?"

"Not a clue."

"No matter how indifferent I am towards other people, I must say you two are getting on my nerves talking about me as if I wasn't here." Raven spoke up gruffly.

"My apologies, _Mistress_." He said with a smile as he gave her a quick bow. "I am Maiestas, Imperial guard to my brother, King Tantus, but you may call me Mai."

"Where's the other guard. The female one. Aqualad said it was tradition for the King to have two."

"Of course its tradition. Just…to tell you the truth." Here Mai leaned in close and began to whisper. "Female guards don't last long."

"Stop dad," Prodigis scolded him with a frown, "You're scaring her."

"No one's scaring me. You're making me angry. Now what don't I know and what happened to the other guard?"

"I don't know if I should tell you, ask my father?" Prodigis offered with a smile.

Raven scowled and turned towards Mai, who smiled in return. "He's your counterpart, ask my son?"

Raven, despite herself, turned back to Prodigis. "Ask my…"

"I could kill you both now in a blink of an eye and put your souls in jars, tell me what's going on."

"I like her!" Mai exclaimed happily after a pause. "What do you think of my son? Fine looking boy, eh?"

"Dad?" Prodigis cried out, plainly embarrassed, before stalking off towards Aqualad.

"Son!" Mai barked as he followed suit.

"Jars!" Raven growled in annoyance.

"Aww, that's much better!" She heard the queen sigh.

Glancing up, Raven saw the queen standing up on a pair of newly formed legs and wrap a skirt around her naked waist, before turning towards Raven with a smile. And before Raven knew it, the Queen had a spear in hand and her face had gone hard and cold.

And with the eyes of an eagle fixed on Raven, Semiramis threw the spear. Raven stood there frozen, not sure what to do and in a blink of an eye, the spear was upon her.


End file.
